Heroes of the Dead
by RueLover1997
Summary: AU: No Gods, the demigods are all human. When 22 year old Percy Jackson returns to New York for his mother's funeral he ends up being trapped when the city is shut down do to a zombie infestation. He along with unexpected help make their way out of the city, and suppossed safety. DISCLAIMER: All is owned by Rick Riordan, I only came up with basic fanfic plot.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1: The Meeting

Percy started to prepare for his walk down the block just like everyone else would. He dawned a dark blue hoodie, grabbed the keys to his apartment so he could lock up behind him, told his cat goodbye, and grabbed the biggest knife he could find out of the draw. No one in would go outside unarmed now a days, or at least no one living would. The streets were crawling with the undead and Percy was starting to think he was the only living person left in New York City.

It had been over a month since Percy had come back to New York for his mother's funeral, and been trapped in this ever lasting Hell. When he first arrived in the city there were a few news stories here or there about the dead rising and attacking the living. The majority ignored these stories thinking they were from tabloids. They couldn't have been more wrong. Within days sections of the city were being blocked off for quarantine, anyone alive in those blocks were forgotten. Within a week the bridges and tunnels were closed, and not long after airports were shut down.

Percy was supposed to leave the day after the airports were shut down; leaving him stranded in the city with his girlfriend Rachel out in Colorado to worry about him. That is if she was even alive to worry. Honestly Percy wasn't so sure how he was still alive. Maybe it was because he had been locked in his mom's apartment for weeks, and only left to walk across the street to grab some food from the general store. The only good thing about all this was that his mom had died before hell broke loose, and when that's the bright side you know life is screwed up.

Percy was running low on food again, and his knife was starting to dull. He needed to take a trip out to hunt down some rations and a new weapon against the dead. So he decided today was the best day for a supplies run. He left the apartment, locking it behind him though he wasn't sure why anymore, and wandered over to the fire escape at the end of the hall. As he climbed out onto the fire escape and made his way down to the alley below he remembered his old karate gym a few blocks over had an old Samaria sword hanging on the wall. "That will be perfect for stabbing these Creeps," he mumbled to himself as he skipped the last step and jumped onto the asphalt.

When he walked out of the ally he saw that nothing had changed over the past few days. There were still a handful of the undead wandering the street, and there were broken down cars all over the place. Deciding to pick up his weapon first so he could easily fend off the Creeps in the general store, Percy headed on down the block. Every once in a while one of the dead would wander over to him so he'd quickly take it down with a knife to the head, and continue on. Eventually he did make it to his old karate school, but the door was locked. Guess the dojo didn't want to teach karate to the undead.

Percy leaned his forehead against the door and groaned. He had just wasted fifteen valuable minutes of his screwed up life getting here just for the place to be closed? He was not going to accept that. Percy looked around him to see if there was anything to help get in and noticed a scooter left lying in the middle of the street. "Perfect," he said with a smile. He walked over to the scooter, picked up, and threw it right at the window which immediately shattered. Unfortunately it also set off an alarm.

"Shit!" Percy hissed, "Shit, shit, shit! This is not good." He could already see some of the Creeps being drawn to the sound out of the corner of his eye. He wouldn't stand a chance with just his dull kitchen knife so he jumped through the window frame and into the school. He ran over to the shelf were the sword was kept in a glass case, and threw the case on the floor. The glass shattered and the sword skidded across the room. Percy chased after it. He had just picked up the sword when there was a snarling noise from behind. Without a second thought Percy swung the sword behind him and ended up decapitating a Creep who was about to take a chomp out of him.

Percy scrambled away from the head and back out the window. More and more Creeps had begun to wander over; most were distracted by the noise, but a few noticed the twenty some year old stumbling out of a karate school and went after him. Percy tore down the streets heading straight to his apartment. Food could wait since he didn't feel like becoming a meal himself. He could check some of the other apartments for rations if he had to.

He turned it his alley way and ran straight to the fire escape latter. He had started to climb it when something grabbed his foot. He looked down and saw a Creep angling its mouth to chew on Percy's toes. Percy didn't know what to do so he took the kitchen knife out of his belt and threw it straight into the Creeps face. His attacker collapsed to the ground, dead for the last time. Percy didn't even take a breath before he climbed the fire escape faster than ever.

When he reached his floor he heaved himself through the window, and collapsed to the floor panting. That was way too close. Once he finally caught his breath he made his way down the hall to his front door. The lock clicked when he turned the key, but when he wandered in his cat, Neptune, didn't great him like he normally does.

Percy was ready to call out to his little friend when a voice came from the kitchen. "Oh your such a good kitty aren't, you?" it said. It sounded like it belonged to a young woman. "Did your family leave you too?" it said still speaking to the cat. Percy wasn't sure what they meant, but he knew having a stranger in your house during the apocalypse was not a good thing.

Percy raised his sword and snuck toward the kitchen. The voice still hadn't realized he was there and continued to coo at his cat. Percy peeked into the kitchen to find a tall blonde standing with her back turned towards him. Percy pointed the sword at the small of her back and said as calmly as possible, "Turn around, and leave my cat alone."

The girl did half of that. She picked up Neptune and turned so Percy could see her face. She looked about Percy's age with a snarky smile and piercing gray eyes. "You know," she said with a slightly mocking undertone, "I really wouldn't draw a sword on someone who has food. Especially if they might me the only living person left on this island."

Percy stared at her in shock. He had her at sword point; she should not be joking around, and more importantly she needed to put his cat down! "Who the hell do you think you are?" he snapped.

The blonde woman laughed. "I'm Annabeth Chase, the woman who can kick your ass if she needs to. So put the sword down."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites; they're always appreciated! Hope you like this chapter too!

CHAPTER 2: Partners In Crime

Percy glared at the girl. Who did she think she was to come into his apartment dressed like Indian Jones minus the hat, and threaten him when he had her at sword point? This was not how he wanted his day to turn out. "Well, Annie, I have a have a sword, and you're unarmed," he said calmly, "I'd like to see you try to kick my ass." This girl may look like she's in pretty good shape despite the world falling apart, but after years of competitive swimming Percy was certain he was strong enough to take her, not to mention he had at least four inches on her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh as she put Neptune down. Then, before Percy could react, she kicked the blade out-of-the-way, grabbed it by the hilt while jerking it out of Percy's grasp, and threw it across the room. Percy, who had been thrown off-balance when she took the sword, tried to regain his footing as she kicked him in the chest, thus knocking him to the floor. Percy started to sit up when Annabeth placed her foot on his chest forcing him to stay down. "Don't ever call me Annie again," was all she said before letting him up.

Percy got off the floor and brushed himself off. "Okay," he said slightly annoyed, "So you can beat me, but it still doesn't mean you're allowed in my apartment. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Some idiot set an alarm off down the street," she said causing Percy to turn red. Annabeth raised her eyebrow, but didn't comment. "Chompers started to come from every direction, so I decided to get indoors," she continued while digging through one of Percy's ration cabinets.

"Stop that!" Percy snapped slamming to cabinet shut. "I didn't say you could take my food!"

"Sorry," she said and held her hands up in defense.

Percy rolled his eyes. "It's fine," he sighed, "Just tell me how you even got in here."

Annabeth smirked. "Well it was actually really easy, considering you left your window connected to the fire escape open."

Percy leaned against the cabinets and groaned. He had completely forgotten he had opened the window last night so the apartment didn't get to hot. So not only was he stupid enough to set off the alarm that forced her in here, he gave her access to the place.

"So what about you?" Annabeth asked. Percy looked around, but didn't see her. "In here stupid!" she screamed from the living room. Percy wandered in to find her sitting on the couch with Neptune crawling around in her lap. Annabeth stroked the tabby and gave him an inquisitive look. "So?" she prodded.

"What about me?" Percy asked leaning against the door frame.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "What about you? What's your name? How'd you get here? What's your story?"

Percy didn't really feel the need to tell this girl about him, but it was nice to have some human company so he did. "My name's Percy," he said, "I was in town for my mom's funeral when all this happened. I'm actually supposed to be at college in Colorado right now."

Annabeth smiled. "I miss college sometimes," she said wistfully. "But not as much as I miss the architectural firm I worked at."

Percy gave her a confused look. "You _worked _there, like full-time? You're like twenty-three max. Aren't still in college?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I graduated early," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I took a lot AP classes in high school."

Percy laughed. "That's pretty obvious, Annabeth," he teased and went back to the kitchen. "I'm going to have some food. You want some?" he called over his shoulder.

Annabeth shook her head. "Well, as lovely as that sounds," she said, "I should leave. You're right; this isn't my place so I'll get going." She got up and headed to the door.

Percy ran over and blocked off her path. "Are you nuts!?" he asked. "For an early grad you're pretty stupid! The street is crawling with Creeps!"

"I can handle myself against the Chompers," she argued and tried to shove past the boy.

"First off, I'm not letting you risk your life out there. Second off, what the hell is a Chomper?" Percy said.

"A Chomper is what you're calling a Creep. Zombie sounds to cliché, and Creep sounds stupid, so I say Chomper," she said and made another move for the door.

"Annabeth come on!" Percy snapped, "It's getting dark; at least stay till morning."

"Weren't you holding me at sword point earlier? Why do you care?"

Percy groaned; did he really have to say why? Annabeth looked determined to go on a suicide mission so he guessed the answer was yes. "I was that idiot who set of the alarm and drew the Creeps here. It was an accident!" he said, throwing in the last part when Annabeth looked ready to strangle him. "Anyways if you end up getting eaten I'll never forgive myself for possibly getting the last living person on this island, besides myself, killed." Annabeth didn't say anything. "Plus some company might not be so bad," he added for good measure

Annabeth stood there glaring at him. After five or so minutes she finally gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine," she said, "It's nice to see another human face so I guess I can stay until the street clears out."

* * *

Annabeth didn't leave in the morning though. The street was clear, but she didn't care. She and Percy had decided they both liked having some company again, and that night they had gotten each other a little more.

Percy learned that Annabeth actually knew his mom. She used to take her little brother to the candy shop Sally had worked at, and took care of Neptune she was in the hospital.

Percy was worried that Annabeth would judge him for not visiting his mom when she had cancer, but she actually seemed to understand. Percy didn't have a car, and the money he earned interning at the aquarium wasn't enough for a plane ticket. Sure, Sally offered to pay for Percy's flight, but he had wanted her money to go towards her treatment not to his plane ticket. Unfortunately the treatment was pointless, and Percy wished he had taken the plane ticket when he could have. He had felt terrible leaving his mom here alone while she was so sick. His step-dad Paul had died in a car crash a few years back so he wasn't even there for her.

Annabeth's life seemed worse somehow. She was living with her single dad and half-brother when this all started. Her section of the city was one of the first blocked off. Apparently her dad turned not long after their block was shut down and her brother soon after him. Percy didn't ask what happened to them, it was pretty obvious Annabeth didn't want to talk about it. Since then she had been hopping place to place in hopes of safety or, even better, a way out of the city. So far she had had no luck.

After you tell someone something like that you don't just turn your back on them. The two had become zombie hunting partners and they didn't care; they made a good team. Annabeth seemed to have the layout of the city memorized so they could easily find alternative paths during supply runs, and Percy was getting better with his sword everyday. Not that Annabeth needed his protection; it was scary how good she was with a knife. Life had almost become easy. All they had to do was go out on a run once or twice a week and come home. But they should have known. Life in the apocalypse was never easy.


End file.
